


Dust and Ashes

by KR Grim (KR_Grim)



Category: Ougon no Taiyou | Golden Sun
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Foreign Languages
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-08-09
Updated: 2011-09-15
Packaged: 2017-10-22 10:19:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/237041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KR_Grim/pseuds/KR%20Grim
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes fate strikes early. Sometimes plans are changed. But some things remain the same: Three kids entering Sol Sanctum with their mentor, unknowingly starting an epic journey.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: Storm

**Author's Note:**

> I call this the prologue because that's pretty much what it is. This sets the changes rolling. As a warning, changes may be larger than they appear at first glance.
> 
> Also, every chapter of this has one-word titles. Mostly an aesthetic thing.

Midnight rang on the stormy early autumn night. The heavy rain shredded the ground, soaking it to the point where even the roads had become like marshes. Lightning arced through the air as thunder roared, shaking the houses and crumbling their foundations. Meanwhile, the fierce storm-winds howled, their cacophonous din making even the loudest shout barely intelligible. Isaac was, of course, no longer asleep, but he pretended to be, hoping that morning would come and the village would be at least somewhat normal. “Isaac!” shouted Dora’s strained voice. “Isaac, wake up! Come quickly, the Mount Aleph boulder is falling!” Isaac bolted upright. “And don’t forget your tunic!” she shouted as she barged into his room, fetching the tunic with her Psynergy. “Don’t want to save your life only for hypothermia to take it away…” She grabbed him and practically forced him down the stairs.

As the house shuddered, Isaac bolted for the doorway. Lightning struck the chimney, and the house shook violently as Dora dashed through the door. “Mom, are you all right?” he asked, looking frightenedly at her.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” she said, giving his shoulder a reassuring pat before hearing a familiar voice through the storm. As mud soaked around her shoes, she could hear - albeit quite indistinctly - the voice of her husband. “I have to go see what your father wants!” she said. “Go to the plaza!” Isaac nodded, turning to go to the plaza, when a large rock crashed into the stone steps in front of him. It impacted with enough velocity that it lodged itself into the stairs, knocking Isaac back with the shockwave.

“Ow…” Wincing, Isaac ran toward the nearest bridge, which involved passing his friend Garet’s house. Garet grabbed Isaac’s arm as the Venus Adept ran toward the bridge.

“Isaac!” shouted Garet. “You gotta help me, the ground swallowed up my stuff, I gotta get it back, please, c’mon and help me…”

“No way, let’s just go to the plaza, if we stop to get your stuff the boulder’s gonna crush us!” Garet’s eyes widened, he let go of Isaac, and the two rushed across the bridge.

“The boulder? What happened?!” shouted Garet, running as though his life depended on it as they crossed the ground, nearing an old wooden bridge that now appeared close to collapse. Garet, heedless of safety concerns, dashed across, and Isaac tried to follow suit but ended up snapping through a few boards. Fortunately, he was a strong enough young man that he could pull himself back onto the waterlogged bridge, and then the two continued on. Due to rocks blocking the passage, however, they had to pass the old abandoned hut. The stories floating around town among the kids said that the house was haunted by the ghost of the previous owner, who’d died in a flood. That only made the fact that it was storming heavily even creepier.

As they raced toward the plaza, they saw that a bridge was out; they’d have to go to the one right above the waterfall, which was probably rotting. As they neared the first waterfall, they saw Isaac’s parents and Felix’s parents kneeling on Felix’s family’s dock, with Jenna standing behind them. While they could see what was going on, they couldn’t hear, and so they carefully descended the stairs alongside the cliff to try and get a better idea.

“Felix!” shouted Kyle. “Hold on, we’ll help you!” The boy appeared to be hanging on for dear life, holding onto a pole in the middle of the river. A week ago, his parents had put that pole in to show where they had been planning on building to. In an instant, Felix’s grip loosened, and he was pulled underwater. The five gathered on the dock gasped, and Jenna rushed over to her mother, holding her tight. Felix’s dad kept watching the water, and motioned for them to look as he resurfaced, gasping for air and arms wrapped tight around the pole. His family sighed with relief as the saw him clinging to the stranded bit of wood.

“We need a rope or something,” said Kyle. “My Psynergy won’t reach, and besides, he’s too heavy!”

“He’s a growing boy of fifteen, of course he’s too heavy for our Psynergy!” said Felix’s dad. “We need to get someone who has a rope! Jenna, Dora, go find someone with a rope, Kyle, Ann, and I will stay here and keep Felix from drowning - if need be one of us will swim out to him!”

“Not in this storm!” shouted Dora. “Kyle, come with me!” Kyle shook his head.

“I have to keep them company, I’m the best swimmer of us all and you can’t expect Ann or Thomas to leave!” Kyle shouted, moving for Dora and Jenna to leave. “You and Jenna go find help!” he shouted.

Jenna nodded, taking Dora’s hand and leading her to the door to the house. Dora could feel a sinking feeling in her chest, as though something horrible was about to happen. “I love you!” she shouted to her husband.

“I love you too!” Kyle shouted back. As Jenna led her through the house, Dora couldn’t help but feel that something was going wrong. Once they exited the house, Dora saw Isaac and Garet running up to them. “Boys!” she shouted. “You can help us, go take Jenna to the plaza, find someone with some rope that we can toss to Felix! He’s floating in the middle of the river!” Isaac nodded, taking Garet and Jenna with him. As the fourteen-year-olds crossed the bridge, they saw Felix.

“Hang on, Felix!” shouted Garet. “We’ll get someone for you!” The three of them raced to the plaza, where Garet’s grandfather was recruiting people to help the Elders keep the boulder from crushing the village.

“You two help them!” said the Elder. Two large, muscular men nodded, running to help the Elders.

“Granddad!” shouted Garet. “We need someone strong and some rope!” Garet’s grandfather sighed.

“Garet, right now I can’t spare anyone,” he said, “not a single person! The boulder needs to be kept from reaching Vale!”

“It’s not even using Psynergy!” argued Garet. “It’s just a rope and someone reasonably strong!” Garet’s grandfather sighed just as someone stepped down from the stone.

“Who needs rescuing?” he asked.

“It’s my brother, Mr. Joseph!” said Jenna, looking imploringly at the large man. “Please, you’ve gotta help him!” Joseph nodded, looking around and noting a long rope whose end had frayed. Attached to the other end was a large spike; obviously the thing the rope had kept in the ground wasn’t being used anymore. Grabbing the rope, Joseph turned to the mayor.

“Mr. Mayor,” he said, “I’m off to help these kids!” The mayor nodded, and the four of them ran off toward Jenna’s house.

As they arrived at the bridge, Dora yelled, “Have you found anybody?”

Joseph stepped forward, shouting, “Here I am, ma’am!” Running toward Felix with the rope, Joseph got as far upstream as he could before throwing the rope to Felix. Before the boy could catch, however…

A loud crash came as the boulder began bouncing. While it fortunately didn’t ruin the ground where it bounced, Isaac, Jenna, and Dora could do nothing but stare at it as its trajectory led it right to Jenna and Felix’s family’s dock. The boulder crashed into it, taking out a large part of the house before bouncing over the bridge, crashing at the bottom of the second waterfall and throwing up several relatively smaller boulders. Isaac looked around for a moment before running to the plaza to try and get to the bottom of the river, hoping that his father and Jenna’s family were still alive.

“Isaac,” muttered Garet, not noticing that the storm was calming slightly. “We men have to stick together in adversity!” shouted the Mars Adept, running after his friend.

As Isaac neared the plaza, he overheard a conversation between two people. “That storm… I still can’t believe we got out alive,” said a man’s voice.

“Indeed,” replied a woman’s voice. “The power of Alchemy is great and terrible. It’s too bad we couldn’t reach the Stars, but maybe if we came back…”

“Perhaps,” said the man. “But that is only one possibility, and we must examine all of them. Come, Menardi, we must prepare. We cannot leave such things as this to chance.”

“Saturos,” said Menardi, “while I understand your eagerness to research, we must take the opportunities we are given. Clearly, we were meant to take the Stars as soon as possible.”

“We must research,” insisted Saturos. “I will brook no further argument on this matter. If we rush in, then all of our plans will have been for naught.” Isaac couldn’t help but listen. “Don’t tell me you honestly want Puelle to have to hear of our deaths in Vale as well as all of the rest of the advance guard…”

“It would be worth it,” argued Menardi. “If we retrieved them, the Stars alone - “

“I will not risk the future of Weyard to try and retrieve the Stars!” shouted Saturos. “Too much depends upon our returning to Puelle and reporting the trap hidden within the Sanctum! I will not return without proper - “ He suddenly turned, one of his long ears twitching. “Someone,” he said, “is listening. I can feel it in my bones.”

“Isaac!” shouted Garet. “Wait for me!” As Garet caught up with Isaac, who was trying to sneak away from the scene, he said, “What’s wrong?”

Saturos and Menardi leapt from the ledge they had been standing on, standing behind the two boys. “You two,” said Saturos. “Were you eavesdropping?” Isaac shook his head.

“I don’t believe them,” said Menardi. “How much did you hear?” Before Isaac could answer, Garet stepped back.

“Isaac, I don’t think you should answer them… They look creepy,” he said, looking at them.

Menardi and Saturos looked at each other. “I trust you know what to do,” said Saturos. Menardi nodded. Clearing his throat and turning to the boys, Saturos said, “You must forget everything you heard.”

Menardi’s grin was savage as she lifted her scythe. “Don’t worry,” she said. “I’ll help you forget!” And, before the boys could do anything, a great number of fireballs were being fired at them, impacting their early teenage bodies and flinging them back into the mud. Isaac ended up sliding a fair distance into the marshy ground, while Garet stopped after a much shorter de. Leaping away, Saturos and Menardi headed for their ship. As they prepared to shove off, they encountered four people in the river, one man swimming with three others. While the other three were likely dead, Menardi refused to give up the chance to save the man, and so she extended her scythe, which the man latched onto.

As she helped the man aboard her ship, he said, “Please… help Felix.” The youngest of the three he had been carrying, a young Earth Adept, coughed up some water. Menardi nodded, taking the young Felix into the cabin and taking off his wet clothes, drying him off and covering him in blankets. Saturos, meanwhile, helped the man up and led him to another cabin.

“Don’t worry,” said the Proxian. “We’ll make sure you get help as well.” Kyle nodded, kneeling on the floor as soon as he was left in the room.


	2. Chapter One: Escape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A prisoner decides to run instead of staying in her unjust captivity.

Fifteen days ago, Babi's soldiers had forced Sheba from her home, taking her while Faran protested heavily. She was the child of the Gods, he had argued. Her life, her freedom, those weren't the bargaining chips any sane man - or, indeed, any man who deserved that title - should use. Their men were being worked to the bone, if they worked any harder they would die from exhaustion. But Babi's word was law in the captured city, and Faran could do no more than hurl protesting words at the soldiers, words that turned to begging and pleading when he realized that it was useless to try and bargain for his daughter's freedom. Sheba sighed; Faran had tried his best, but she was sure she could do better. She was, fortunately, still allowed to run free throughout the castle. As long as she wasn't caught breaking curfew, she could go anywhere. But there was only one place Sheba wanted to go, and that was outside the castle, outside the grounds of this giant fortress.

At night, after slipping past the guards, Sheba would often sneak down into the servants' quarters and speak with a young Laliveran maid. She was the one who told Sheba about the strange ball that Babi had, and how the ailing man took it out whenever he left at night. He had also placed it in a cupboard in his room after retrieving a strange blood-red potion from outside; she wasn't sure where, but it had been a good four or five hour trip. Sheba decided that one night, she would test out this ball, even if it meant stealing from Babi's own personal cupboards. As soon as the girl had stolen the orb, she looked at it with her bare hands. Something about it called to the power of the Gods within her, called upon her to hide. Slowly, she left Babi's room before fleeing back to her tower. Focusing her mind, she called upon the orb's power. Amazingly, it seemed as though nothing happened. Looking around, she sighed. Perhaps it could still do some good as something she was curious about.

As she walked through the hallways, intending to return the orb to Babi, she noticed something interesting. Despite the fact that she was, in order to get to Babi's room faster, running past guards, the shadows of nighttime hid her more completely than they ever had. The last time she had tried being this direct about where she was going, the guards had stopped her and dragged her back to her prison. Pausing for a moment, Sheba walked up to a guard, staying in the shadows, and poked him on the back of his helmet. The guard turned and looked at her. "Who's there?" he asked. "Who…" He turned to his partner. "Did you poke the back of my helmet?" he asked. The other guard shook his head. "Huh… maybe I imagined it, then…" Marveling at her power, Sheba ran back to her room. This item must have been infused with divine power for her to use.

As she gathered her cloak and satchel, she noted with a pang of regret that Margarethe wouldn't be able to join her. The Laliveran would have to suffer and know only that the Child of the Gods, symbol of the pride of her hometown, had managed to escape from this well-guarded and highly protected fortress. Hopefully that would be consolation enough. Looking around the room, she grabbed a large, thick blanket that would protect her from the cold north, as it was nearing winter and she might have to sleep outside, as well as a staff. She hoped that would be enough as she walked back out of her room, focusing her power on the orb again and walking quickly to the kitchens. Hopefully there wouldn't be anyone there. She wrapped the cloak around herself as she walked, muttering to herself about the cold conditions within the palace.

As Sheba approached the kitchen, she saw a flutter of movement. Swallowing nervously, she looked in before entering. As she did, she could hear a sound similar to a cymbal rustling as her barrier fell. Looking, she saw someone in a cloak ruffling through the stores. Clutching her cloak to her, she moved nervously, trying to sneak past the person unnoticed. As she did, she accidentally bumped into them. The person turned and said, "Who are you?"

Sheba froze. She didn't want to say anything. Not now, not here, not even to who she was fairly certain from the voice was Margarethe. Now was most emphatically not the time. She merely pulled the hood of the cloak down further and searched around the kitchen. "You can't take food from here," said Margarethe. "I mean, I know you're probably hungry, and I know it's probably your first night, but you don't take food from the kitchen. You get someone on the kitchen staff to let you in and you make 'practice' breakfasts for Lord Babi."

Sheba just nodded and picked up a couple rolls, stuffing them into her bag. She forgot how fast Margarethe was, and the older girl grabbed the back of Sheba's cloak and pulled… only to come face-to-face with the child of the Gods. "Gah!" Sheba pulled the cloak back over her head as Margarethe let go, and then began packing her satchel with even more food. "F-forget you saw me," she said, rummaging through the fruit that was sitting out and taking a few ripe apples and a couple bananas. Margarethe said nothing, merely looking at Sheba.

"How…" Margarethe swallowed, then said, "Mistress Sheba… how did you get out of your room, how did you slip past the guards? The ones on duty tonight are the ones who stay sober."

"I know," said Sheba. "I… I walked with a new power that the Gods had granted me." She wasn't sure whether that was only true while holding the orb, but it was true enough. "It lets me stalk in the shadows without being seen…" Margarethe's expression was one of pure awe as Sheba continued to pack fruit into her satchel. "Apparently it doesn't work in light, though." She closed the satchel after grabbing a few more bread rolls. "But… I'm going to sneak out tonight, head northward. I'll go along Silk Road, travel to Kalay. Maybe there they'll be able to help me."

"Maybe," agreed Margarethe. "I mean, they're not Tolbians, they'll be bound to help… and maybe in the confusion over your escape, I can escape too, head south for my freedom… My brother Asher is still alive, Gods be thanked…" Sheba nodded.

"Agreed," said the young Child of the Gods, taking Margarethe's hand and peering into her heart. The older girl was filled with fear and apprehension, and her thoughts said that she was worried that her father, too old to work, had been writing Asher's letters. Sheba looked her confidante in the eye. "Margarethe," she said, "trust in your brother's well-being, I am sure he is all right."

Margarethe said nothing, merely looking at Sheba for a moment. "…Th-thank you," she finally whispered. "I… I think I will go look for him," she said, looking away from Sheba. "The Gods protect you on your journey. I will escape as best I can." Sheba nodded, pulling her cloak's hood down as she turned for the door. "Wait… Before you go," said Margarethe, grabbing a large glass bottle from the icebox and handing it to the young girl. It was filled with apple juice; Sheba had grown to like the taste, and always requested a bottle of it with breakfast. Smiling, the young girl placed it in her satchel and turned to go. "Good luck," whispered Margarethe again, turning and heading back to the servants' quarters.

As she left the kitchen and entered the familiar darkness, Sheba focused again, the power of the Gods coming into being around her. She paid more attention to the power as it did; rather than the wind's grace, which was what her power normally felt like, this was similar to the gentle caress of dewdrops. She wasn't sure what to make of it, but as the imaginary dewdrops clung to her skin she understood why she couldn't be seen – and why the light dispelled the illusion.

Sneaking through the hallways, avoiding the guards and lights, she ran up to the front gate. It was locked and barred, this late at night, and she silently began unlocking it from the inside. As she began to push the bar, she saw a couple of guards heading her way with torches. Diving for cover, she watched from an alcove as they stopped by the front door and looked at it. "Hmm… Babi must've ordered it unlocked tonight," said one. Sheba wiped her brow, not bothering to think of why Babi would ever want his front gate to be unlocked overnight. "Better undo the bar too, just in case he decides that he wanted it unbarred. Probably did."

As the night watchmen moved the bar, Sheba backed further into the alcove, hoping that the guards wouldn't see her if the barrier faded. Or, for that matter, hear the barrier fading, as its sound was peculiar and likely to be noticed. But Margarethe hadn't noticed, and so it was likely that they wouldn't either.

As soon as they finished, the guards began walking back. "Man," said one, "can you imagine what Lord Iodem's going to say this morning?"

"Yeah," said his companion as they walked away. He mimicked an older, slightly more nasal voice as he said, "Just because Lord Babi wills it does not make it an automatically good idea. There are still thieves in this city at night." The guard shook his head "As though we aren't trained to spot thieves in the pitch black of night," he said, his voice returning to normal. After they had retreated out of hearing range, Sheba pushed open the door and dashed out.

The outside guards looked around. "Who's there?" said one. "I know you're there, thief…" Shutting the door, he said, "You can't hide from me. Soren, hand me your torch." Sheba dashed for the front gates as the torch was passed to the other guard. "C'mon, I know you're there…" As she dashed, she saw the stairs leading up to the palace; she couldn't stop in time to run down safely, and ended up tripping on the second-to-last one, sliding on the rock and skinning her knee.

Gritting her teeth to keep from groaning in pain, she dashed to the nearest inn. Entering, she said, "I need a bandage." The innkeeper took one look at her knee before his eyes opened wide.

"Here, Miss," he said, handing her a damp but clean rag. "Clean it off first, I'll find something to bandage that with. Although you probably shouldn't be running down the streets this late at night, there are a lot of loose cobblestones even on the more important thoroughfares." Sheba nodded as she took the rag and began dabbing it against her skin. She could tell it wasn't just water on the rag, as it stung like Faran's wound-cleaning rag had, and she knew that had alcohol on it. As she cleaned off the blood, she could see where the wound was as it continued to bleed. The man came back with a long roll of thin cloth for bandaging wounds and a gauze pad. "This should do," he said, placing the gauze pad down and tying it tight with the long cloth, cutting it with a knife before tying it off. "Now then… Do you need a place to stay?"

"No," said Sheba, "I'm… off to visit my grandmother, but she'd worry if she saw me with a bloody knee, so…" The innkeeper nodded.

"All right, then. You have a nice evening, Miss…" The innkeeper waited, and Sheba suddenly realized he needed a name.

"Anne-marie," she said, bowing in thanks before walking to the door. Looking on the ground, she noticed that she hadn't bled much. A glance at her skirt revealed that it had managed to soak up a fair amount of blood. She sighed; it would take a while for it to be cleaned, if she could clean it at all. It probably required some cleaning know-how that Margarethe would have known.

As she left Tolbi, she allowed a sigh of relief to escape her. She would keep up her protective shield for a little while longer, if only so she could be confident that nothing short of an armed torch patrol could find her. Continuing up Silk Road, she stopped a couple miles outside Tolbi, wrapped the blanket around her, and fell into a deep sleep. As the next dawn came, she stirred and continued toward Kalay. She knew she could never return to Tolbi, and it suddenly occurred to her that she could never return to Lalivero, either. Something in her heart ached quietly as she realized that she would never see her adoptive family again. "I'm sorry, Faran," she whispered as she continued around the Karagol. "But I can't stay there any longer. I refuse to be held in a prison. Not when I can free myself with this new power the Gods have given me."


End file.
